Part 3
Gen 26:3 Vertoef as vreemdeling in hierdie land, en Ek sal met jou wees en jou seën; want aan jou en jou nageslag sal Ek al hierdie lande gee: Ek sal die eed bevestig wat Ek vir jou vader Abraham gesweer het. Gen 26:6 So het Isak dan in Gerar gebly. Gen 26:12 Isak het toe in dié land gesaai en daardie jaar honderdvoudig gewen, want die HERE het hom geseën.
Gen 26:12 Isaac sowed crops in that land, and that year he harvested a hundred times as much as he had sown, because the LORD blessed him. Gen 26:13 He continued to prosper and became a very rich man. Gen 26:14 Because he had many herds of sheep and cattle and many servants, the Philistines were jealous of him.
Psalm 37:3 (NIV) Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
What happens if you do not stay in the land?
Ruth 1:1 In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him. Ruth 1:2b And when they reached Moab, they settled there.
Bethlehem – House of bread but now a place of famine
Every one will go through a famine. Every business, household, church, person, marriage will go through a famine. The easy way out is to move out. Stay in that Land. Do not move from Bethlehem to Moab. In Moab you will lose everything.
If you stay in that land, you will receive a blessing
Rut 1:3 En Eliméleg, die man van Naómi, het gesterwe, maar sy met haar twee seuns het oorgebly.
Ruth 1:6 Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland.
God will give you all the things you need if you sow in that land. Sow in your marriage, sow in your business, sow in your children, sow in your relationship, sow in your church. Stay in that land. Your worst day in Bethlehem is better than your best day in Moab.
Naomi traded one famine for 3 funerals in Moab. Sometimes is looks like things are better in Moab, by stay in Bethlehem. What happens if you do not stay in the land? If you don’t stay through the famine, you will not reap hundredfold. In that land, the land of famine, produced hundredfold. You can’t get the hundredfold if you have not made it through a famine. Stay in that Land Sow in the famine. Sow prayer, sow the word of God, sow faith in the land of famine.
Stay in that Land
“If I had that …man, that work, that car, that land, that money, that marriage, that church then it would be great. Why don’t you sow into that land when there is a famine, it can produce a hundredfold.
God uses less than perfect places in our lives to do something in famine that a feast cannot do for you. Isaac has to stay in that land.
Gen. 26:3 Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and bless you.
Jer. 42:10 Stay here in this land. If you do, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you.
You do not quit. You push through.
Rom 12:12 Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder.
Ps 27:14 Stay with God! Take heart. Don’t quit. I’ll say it again: Stay with God.
Isaiah 40:29-31 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Hebrews 12:11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
God works in amazing places. He found Joseph in the jail, He found Moses in the dessert, He found David in the field, Job in the trail, The 3 Hebrew sons in the fire, Daniel in the lions den, Jerimiah in a put, Paul in a prison, Peter in a storm.
Some of the greatest things God will do for you, is not when you on top of the mountain but when in the middle of a famine, when you sow the truth of Gods word into that famine.
How well do you respond to the stay here command?
Even when you are praying and believing and the there is no breakthrough, sow into the famine? The only place you can get a hundredfold is if you stay at the command of the Lord. Everything that you have dreamed of is right here if you just start sowing into it. When Isaac sowed into that land, he reaped hundredfold.
Mar 4:3 Luister! ‘n Saaier het uitgegaan om te saai. Mar 4:4 En terwyl hy saai, het ‘n deel langs die pad geval, en die voëls van die hemel het gekom en dit opgeëet. Mar 4:5 En ‘n ander deel het op ‘n rotsagtige plek geval waar dit nie baie grond gehad het nie; en dadelik het dit opgekom, omdat dit geen diepte van grond gehad het nie. Mar 4:6 En toe die son opgaan, is dit verskroei; en omdat dit geen wortel gehad het nie, het dit verdroog. Mar 4:7 En ‘n ander deel het in die dorings geval, en die dorings het opgekom en dit verstik; en dit het geen vrug opgelewer nie. Mar 4:8 En ‘n ander deel het in die goeie grond geval, en dit het vrug opgelewer; want dit het opgekom, en gegroei, en dit het gedra: een dertig— en een sestig— en een honderdvoudig.